Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia Alen Simonyan has commented on the republic’s loss of its voting rights within the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), pointing to the alliance’s inaction during the escalation of the conflict with Azerbaijan.

"They have deprived us of a voice in a place where everyone remained deafeningly silent while we were being killed," Simonyan wrote on his Telegram channel.

This marks the first public response from the Armenian side regarding the organization’s decision to restrict the country’s rights.

The application of Article 25 of the CSTO Charter to Armenia was revealed following a meeting of the Collective Security Council in Moscow on November 11. This article entails the loss of a state’s voting rights and its ability to nominate representatives for key positions within the organization’s structures. Armenia, however, formally retains its membership in the alliance.

CSTO Deputy Secretary General Taalatbek Masadykov stated that Yerevan could restore its full participation once it settles its outstanding membership fee arrears. The final decision on resuming active involvement in the organization rests with the Armenian leadership.

The meeting itself took place without Armenian representatives. On that day, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan was in Turkey, attending events at the COP31 climate summit. On the sidelines of the conference, he met with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The two sides discussed the normalization of relations, the establishment of peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the development of trade, and the unblocking of transport links, including the TRACECA (Transport Corridor Europe-Caucasus-Asia) initiative. Ahead of a Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) meeting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov explained that the proposal to limit Armenia’s rights stems from the country’s failure to pay its membership dues. According to Lavrov, Yerevan has not made these payments since 2024. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov also warned that the organization would respond to Armenia’s refusal to participate in its activities.

Yerevan has been boycotting CSTO events since late 2022. In February 2024, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced a de facto freeze on his country’s participation, asserting that the organization had failed to fulfill its obligations toward Armenia. Specifically, Armenian authorities pointed to the alliance’s lack of an appropriate response to the escalation of tensions along the border with Azerbaijan in 2021–2022.

In September of that same year, speaking at the World Armenian Summit, Pashinyan stated that the CSTO poses a threat to the security, sovereignty, and very existence of the Armenian state. On November 5, 2024, the Prime Minister remarked that Armenia’s interest in the organization had been exhausted.